Pay-out by church to Payne sex abuse victim

In an out-of-court settlement, the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin has paid a substantial sum of money in compensation to a young man who was sexually abused in 1984 by Father Ivan Payne.

Payne was sentenced in 1998 to six years after pleading guilty to 13 sample charges of indecent assault against nine boys. The offences took place between 1968 and 1987.

In 1993 the priest paid £27,500 to another victim in an out-of-court settlement. He borrowed from the archdiocese to make the payment.

The amount paid by the archdiocese to the second victim was on a "without admission of liability" basis and cannot be disclosed for reasons of confiden tiality. It is understood to be well in excess of the amount paid in 1993.

Attempts have been made since Thursday to contact the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, on the matter. A spokesman said the archbishop was in Italy taking part in World Youth Day events.

The victim who has received compensation was abused in 1984, three years after the first complaints against Payne were made to the church authorities. In a test case, the young man initiated a civil action against the archdiocese.

In 1998 five of the priest's victims planned civil actions against him and the archdiocese. These were joined later by the three remaining victims in a class action. The test case was taken and resulted in the out-of-court settlement.

In a statement following Payne's trial in April 1998, Dr Connell said: "The first complaint of child sex abuse against Father Payne was made to the diocese in November 1981. No other such complaint was made against Father Payne until 1995 and the diocese was not aware of any other complaint until 1995."